votorola.a.count

Interface CountNode

All Known Implementing Classes:

CountNodeIC, CountNodeJS, CountNodeW

public interface CountNode

A positional accounting node in a delegate cascade. It records a person's input and cumulative count state in a particular poll.

See Also:

Category:Position

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
static byte	DART_SECTOR_MAX The maximum dart sector, or 20.

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
String	candidateName() Identifies the candidate selected by the person, for whom a vote is to be cast if the person is a voter.
byte	dartSector() The dart sector occupied by this node, if any.
Long	directVoterCount() The number of other nodes that name this node as a candidate.
String	displayTitle() The display title of the person's position, or null if there is none.
boolean	isBaseCandidate() Answers whether this node is a root candidate or a cycler.
boolean	isCandidate() Answers whether this node has a voter.
boolean	isCycler() Answers whether this node is voting for a voter of it's own, directly or indirectly.
boolean	isRootCandidate() Answers whether this node is a candidate who is not a voter.
boolean	isVoter() Answers whether the candidate is non-null and non-identical with the person.
String	name() The mailish username of the person for whom this node accounts.

Field Detail

DART_SECTOR_MAX

static final byte DART_SECTOR_MAX

The maximum dart sector, or 20.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Method Detail

candidateName

String candidateName()

Identifies the candidate selected by the person, for whom a vote is to be cast if the person is a voter.

Returns:

the mailish username of the candidate, or null if none was selected.

dartSector

byte dartSector()

The dart sector occupied by this node, if any. Dart sectors are used to construct user interface views that are relatively stable over long periods of time despite vote shifts. A node must be in the top 20 of its respective board (peers or end-candidates) in regard to vote flow in order to occupy a dart sector. The sector is assigned at random. The occupying node will not ordinarily be displaced from its assigned sector so long as it remains in the top 20. This is the rule of non-displacement. An exception to the rule occurs in the case of cyclers.

A cycler has two roles for purposes of sectoring: voter and end-candidate. If the cycler is not among the top 20 of end-candidates, then she (or he) will occupy no sector in either role. Otherwise she will occupy the same sector in both roles. It is therefore possible that she (now in the role of voter) will displace a co-voting peer from a pre-occupied sector. This is the one exception to the rule of non-displacement. To illustrate, consider the cycle pictured below. If the cycle is formed by (s) casting for (c), then it is possible for one of (p) to be forced to a different dart sector.

           ( )       ( )
             \  ( )  /
              \  |  /
               \ | /          |
   ( )          \|/           | vote flow
     \    ( )---(s)   (p)     V
      \   /       \   /
       \ /         \ /
       ( )         (c)----(p)
         \         /
          \       /
          ( )---( )


               <---

Dart sector assignments are persisted from count to count in the voter input table. Reassignments occur at count time due to collisions from vote shifts and these are persisted individually. Where a count based on an old snapshot of the voter input is remounted, the reassignments of that count might (supposedly) clobber those of historically more recent counts. The result would be a degree of sector displacement surfacing on the next count, based on a new snapshot of the voter input. This should be corrected when voter input storage is expanded to include historical vote shifts and other changes of vote data, as sector reassignments would then be recorded in historical sequence.

Acknowledgement: Dart sectoring was first proposed by Thomas von der Elbe. See Start/Metagov 2011-April/003824.

Returns:

a value of 1 to 20, or zero if this node occupies no dart sector.

directVoterCount

Long directVoterCount()

The number of other nodes that name this node as a candidate.

displayTitle

String displayTitle()

The display title of the person's position, or null if there is none.

See Also:

Property:Display_title

isBaseCandidate

boolean isBaseCandidate()

Answers whether this node is a root candidate or a cycler.

See Also:

glossary#base_candidate

isCandidate

boolean isCandidate()

Answers whether this node has a voter.

See Also:

glossary#candidate

isCycler

boolean isCycler()

Answers whether this node is voting for a voter of it's own, directly or indirectly.

See Also:

glossary#cycler

isRootCandidate

boolean isRootCandidate()

Answers whether this node is a candidate who is not a voter.

See Also:

glossary#root_candidate

isVoter

boolean isVoter()

Answers whether the candidate is non-null and non-identical with the person. One may vote for oneself only in a manner of speaking, because such a "vote" is actually a "null cycle, equivalent to a withheld vote." Here it is accounted as not voting at all. Meanwhile, a zero-weight vote for another person, even if it happens to carry no other votes along with it, is nevertheless accounted as voting; although it cannot affect the count in the present, it will affect the count in future if this node ever receives (and thus carries) a weight of votes.

See Also:

theory.xht#cycle

name

String name()

The mailish username of the person for whom this node accounts.